The Year 2000 Computer Problem Y2K INDEX of TOPICS: Overview Year 2K Compliance We will get it fixed in time, won't we? What's the Rush? Countdown to the Year 2000. Consumer Preparedness Thoughts Isn't anybody safe? I thought my computer company was a good one. Do you know a good lawyer? Where else can you look for help? Inside the CLUB 2000 site.

Do you know a good lawyer?
Lawyers involved in software business and technological disputes will have their hands full during the next few years. The litigation costs related to the fallout from problems related to the Y2K computer bug could run up to a trillion dollars. Some bills have already been floating around the legislature intended to limit the liability and the amounts that companies will be able to sue computer manufacturers and software designers for, when their systems collapse in the year 2000. ("The program I bought didn't come with a year 2000 warning label.") {Maybe this is similar to one of Mother Nature's "asteriods" used to keep things in balance by redistributing the wealth back to small businesses (and lawyers) from the pocketbooks of those high-tech companies who have been boasting about the number of billionaires that they've created.} These proposed bills would limit non-personal injury cases to the costs associated to repairing or replacing the systems, rather than letting it extend to punitive damages or emotional distress. This has a double edge to it. If the courts ease up on the potential expenses a computer company would have to be accountable for, it might slow down their incentive to spend excessive amounts of money to correct what might appear as minor problems, that have limited scope or consequence. Instead, the company would be inclined to spend their limited resources on just the major problems they see.
Part of the problem starts when the computer software companies charge you an additional fee to sell you a "fix" for the programs that you are already using which may crash. There is a "fine line" that will be decided as to whether Y2K related software upgrades that need to be purchased to correct these problems (or glitches) should be given away as part of the "correction" of a defective program, or as part of the normal upgrades that are usually given away for free, which is common for the software industry.
Those states or companies who wait too long to leave time for a fix, may find themselves involved in legal battles with the computer companies. The State of North Carolina's attorney general has already identified more than $100 million in Year 2000 related costs to correct the Y2K computer problems facing the state.

Another potentially huge area for concern is all the embedded date logic chips that are in health care equipment and monitoring devices. If a computer crashes that supports crucial lifesaving medical equipment, and it causes a fatality, then the hospital, the doctors, the manufacturers, the chip makers and the software programmers could all be held liable. This could end up affecting malpractice insurance rates, and turn the insurance industry, the medical industry as well as the medical biotechnology computer industry into a huge legal mess. Many older physicians may still be uncomfortable with some of the newer technology and might stall on addressing this issue. Aside from the capital requirements that may be required to update the equipment, most physicians don't know where to start. According to the information technology law firm of Gordon and Glickson, two thirds of U.S. Hospitals had no real strategy for dealing with the Y2K problem as of March '98.

In addition, several class action suits could pop up and it could mean trouble for anyone who supplies computers for industries that rely on dates such as credit card readers, ATM's, cash registers and small businesses that haven't upgraded. Another concern is businesses that are in foreign countries who have purchased used equipment at discounted rates since they aren't being maintained anymore and the manufacturers chose not to upgrade (years ago).

There are already court cases being thrown around related to these topics and the year 2000 computer crash hasn't even hit yet. This is just the beginning. You'll probably be seeing fewer and fewer credit card companies that are willing to risk that all the card readers out there will accept the year 2000 and therefore, they have been renewing cards until late in 1999, to be on the safe side.